I hesitated to post about this, but after some reflection, I believe our supporters need to see the the positive as well as the negative. My heart is heavy due to what happened over the weekend. Our gardener, the man Frank entrusted to take care of the land on the school property, broke into the office and stole many valuables of Frank's. I would have to say, most of his valuables. His laptop, ipod, speakers, money, a flash drive, some clothes and receipts that were in the bag he used to take everything...all gone. Frank filed a police report but it's unlikely he will see any of his belongings again. There are a few things upsetting about this. The obvious being the theft itself. The laptop was not only Frank's main way of keeping track of the project and keeping in touch with us, but he also had personal items on there and items saved to his hard drive that he'll never get back. Also, electronics are way too expensive in Tanzania to just send him money for a replacement and besides, right now all of our money is going directly to the project itself. But the other thing upsetting is that we gave this man a job in an area that has so much unemployment. We would have employed him for years and he was willing to throw that away for a one time theft. We don't know his situation... maybe he had a family member in need and he was desperate. Maybe he didn't trust he would be paid and he saw an opportunity he couldn't pass up? Whatever his reasons, I'm a firm believer in the karmic law, or what goes around comes around...or we reap what we sow. Whatever you want to call it, things have a way of taking care of themselves. I just wish him luck on his journey and I can pray for him, as he has made a choice that has changed the course of his life.

I also believe there are no accidents. There are things both Frank and I will learn from this, I'm sure. And maybe this theft will protect us from a potentially much more devastating theft in the future because we now take precautions against it. We will need to invest in a locked cabinet or safe of some kind. We will make sure and hire security and be more cautious in vetting our help. So... it's a minor bump in the road. It makes us stronger. It brings us all closer.

My vision is to get a laptop donated for Frank. One that is solid with a good battery (because of constant power outages) and wifi. One that will allow Frank to get his work done faster (the last one was slow as molasses with a chinese keyboard haha). One that will allow us to get some face time in with video conference (assuming there is a fast enough connection). We have a small window of time- Frank has a friend traveling in the US and can take a laptop back with her. If you are reading this and have a laptop you would like to donate, or know of someone that could find it in his/her heart to help out... please contact me so I can get transportation worked out. Let's come together and make this happen! I'm sad that Frank has lost all of his valuables, but I'm certain someone will step up to help. Thank you in advance!

UPDATE 10/9/12: We have a laptop donation!!!! Thank you! If anyone has old ipod/speakers/hard drive etc that they would like to donate, these items were also stolen. Not necessary to run a nonprofit, but they were taken from the school property and I would like to help replace if possible. thank you so much. This is such a blessing. It means that the funds we have raised can go back into getting the school ready rather than on a new computer. This is fantastic news...